Posts Tagged ‘Nursing Nurse Online Tutor Tutoring’

My comment regarding patient education essential to recovery is I believe patient education is very important but I do not agree that it is all up to the nurses. The nurses should be educating the patients on things that are necessary but I do not believe it is their job to educate on everything. For instance speech therapists or occupational therapists are educated on certain things more then a nurse is and can provide more information and education on certain problems. I believe the nurse and doctor is the primary nurse educator but do not believe it is their primary job.

My comment regarding Electronic Communication is that its a wonderful idea. Currently at my job now we are able to access the hospitals system to view the accounts of patient we are both servicing. This allows us to see there chart and why they were admitted into the hospital and what was done and so on. Its just so nice to be able to see the information our self rather then calling the hospital and speaking with the patients RN or case manager. The electronic communication really has made the process getting the durable medical equipment to the patient much faster.

The future of the health care informatics arena is unfolding every day with the implementation of electronic health record systems and other technologies designed to assist with the delivery of patient care. The need will be clearly identified for health care professionals and providers to obtain the knowledge to use information technology effectively. Health care informatics is a rapidly developing scientific field utilizing computer technology. Determining how health data is collected, stored, and communicated and how that data is processed to assist in clinical decisions and how automated technology can be used in process improvements, will be a major focus for health care informatists. Some health care organizations are slow to understand the benefits of creating health care informatics positions within their environments. However, I believe the health care organizations will continue to discover the value in creating such positions. As these organizations move towards electronic health records, the need for these skilled individuals will become evident. I see the role of the health care informatics professional bridging the gap between IT personnel, administrators, and communication to end-users, and somewhat taking on the role similar to that of a business analyst. They will become the knowledgeable individual to make sense of all the business requirements, stakeholder needs, end-user perspectives, and areas of improving efficiencies; then being able to deliver this message. They must work in partnership with all those who support the endeavors of creating a user friendly, financially efficient, clinical decision support, health care system, and assisting with resolving issues. The health care informatists must be proficient in information literature, with researching technology and methods to incorporate into the health care environment. Health care informatics applications can be used to improve the quality of patient care, to increase productivity, and to provide access to knowledge. In summary, my analogy is that health care is synonymous with people; thereby, continuing to identify the needs of the health care consumer and providing all measures of keeping them safe, informed, and educated must be an ongoing priority. I believe the future of the health care informatist is going to exponentially grow and develop into an exciting area for those who delve into the middle of the technology pool, to decipher the best means of providing health care information, quality patient care, improving best practices of care, and improving operational efficiencies. It is difficult to summarize such an exciting field of study; however, I especially appreciate the following quote and perhaps this sums it up very well: “If physiology literally means ‘the logic of life’, and pathology is ‘the logic of disease’, then health informatics is the logic of healthcare. It is the rational study of the way we think about patients, and the way that treatments are defined, selected, and evolved. It is the study of how clinical knowledge is created, shaped, shared, and applied. Ultimately, it is the study of how we organize ourselves to create and run healthcare organizations.” – Coiera E. Guide to Health Informatics. London:Hodder, 2003.

Healthcare Informatics is such an exciting field and the opportunities are limitless. The movement towards electronic heath records, clinical documentation, application integration, smart pumps, decision support tools, etc. has spawned companies, education, specialists, technology tools, and identification of security needs, among other things.

Multiple opportunities exist for those in the Healthcare Informatics field; clinical analysts, data analysts, project managers, educators, directors, consultants, etc. Additionally, the work environment is vast; pharmaceutical companies, hospitals, information technology companies, and small businesses, to name a few.

It is very exciting to read the job postings for Informatics Specialists. There are many choices and challenges in the postings. It is also very thrilling to consider the demands that the positions will place on the intellect and ideas of an individual. The opportunity for growth, personally and professionally is another benefit to Informatics employment.

Within acute care facilities, the need for Nursing Informaticists is great. Many types of technologies are deployed for nurses to use and the technology does not meet the needs of the staff. Also, the technology is not all integrated which requires different logins, double documentation, changes to workflow, and sometimes changes to nursing practice. The growth of technology in Healthcare Institutions is to support the care of the patient but it is imperative that the tools work for the end users.

The future of informatics is not clearly defined. It is an open field; driven by the needs of the consumer, the developing technologies (medical and informatics), and the cost of the advancements. The direction of Healthcare Informatics can be guided by the leaders in the field. Experts with a vision and an open mind to embrace the changes that are bound to come will lead the future of Healthcare Informatics.

Healthcare information systems refer to any technology that meets the needs of clinical management. These computer applications include databases, spreadsheets, statistical applications, decision support systems, and automated systems for research. These sites show the diversity of applications that are designed to support the delivery of care and are utilized in a variety of settings.

As the technology increases, the complexity of integrating these systems into a usable tool for the end user is extremely challenging. Successful implementation of the product is dependent on support from the application specialists and the implementation team and buy-in from the end users.

Project management is complex and critical in the implementation of an information system. Project management provides the guideline and communication for the project from the initial scope to the evaluation of the implementation and ongoing support. Listed below are some sites to support the project manager. We use Gantt charts to help document a project and its progress through the timeline.

Healthcare informatics is a developing specialty. For nurses, certification provides validation of a nurse’s knowledge base in their field of specialty. Usually these certifications are identified as initials after the person’s name. These initials can be important in helping to define the abilities of that person. Certifications include:

In addition to certifications, there are different educational tracks in Healthcare Informatics. Post-degree certificates, Masters, PhD, DNP, and DNSc degrees are available depending on the route that the Informatics professional chooses to take; research, practice leader, etc.

I used to work for Children’s Hospital in the IMU unit. Many times, we as nurses would encounter many genetic disorders that were foreign to us or we just did not know enough about the disorder to help educate their parents. Since I also took classes in genetics, I found myself digging further into a particular website OMIM. This website was extremely useful in providing information on genetic diseases and compiled all the information and studies on each genetic problem. This was useful because if children were not reaching their physical or emotional development, many times this was addressed within the study and what was “normal” for that disease process. Many families were at a loss and just did not understand the disease process. The Internet was extremely useful in educating parents and myself regarding the physical and emotional assessment of their child. Also we could print out valuable information and documentation to explain to parents with diagrams and help teach parents about the disorder and what they could expect in the future. I found the Internet to be extremely helpful in ways that books could not.

Distributed education and distance learning capabilities benefit the health care professional by providing anytime and anywhere high quality learning opportunities. This capability allows hospital personnel to more easily obtain credentials and keep up with continuing education requirements. Distance learning also promotes and facilitates communication among hospital personnel and hospital professionals. Many online resources promote collaboration across disciplines and institutions by facilitating the exchange of peer reviewed educational materials, knowledge, and solutions, which ultimately improve patient care. Additionally, implementation of an e-learning or learning management system enables healthcare organization to provide accessibility, reuse content, and interoperability of learning objects and tracking of learner progress. There is an increasing need for healthcare workers to transfer computer and information management skills to the workplace. The growing use of technologies through distributed education within healthcare professions is due to requirements of maintaining certifications, obtaining continuing education, and completing e-learning competencies. The advantage of distributed education and technology has created a multitude of opportunities for the ongoing development of the adult learner. Distributed education enables the healthcare professional to increase their skills in ongoing lifelong learning, which assists in providing improved patient care, resulting in better health outcomes.

eHealth is the wide range of health care activities involving the electronic transfer of health-related information on the Internet and associated technologies. The use of technology in healthcare improves patient safety, reduces patient hospital visits, saves time of the healthcare professional, and supports individuals to look after themselves. Many studies have proven the vast benefits of eHealth technologies, but many organizations are slow to implement. This is partly due to inefficiencies within an organization’s infrastructure and lack of adequate resources. Implementing effective technologies is often difficult; keeping in mind the complexity revolving around the privacy and security concerns of healthcare consumers. Planning and performing needs assessments are critical and vital to successful outcomes. Although standards have been developed and implemented for formatting health data, organizations still face many issues when implementing interfaces between data systems. eHealth, with its intention of saving time and improving patient safety, still is challenged by the diversity of all consumers of healthcare. There are those who are information literate, with access to online resources, who take an active role in their healthcare. Additionally, there are those consumers who have no access to online information and no knowledge of how to obtain health information. This continues to be a need to promote equity in healthcare services and information access. Learning to access healthcare information will empower each and every healthcare consumer to take control of managing his or her personal health issues. With the known benefits of eHealth and the possibilities of managing one’s own healthcare data, consumers’ expectations of improved accessibility to their health information will drive organizations to enhance their implementation of eHealth technologies.

The section on The Impact of Technology on the Teacher and the Learner has two very interesting points. The idea of encouraging our patients to use technology to seek information and educating them on how to find valid information is great. I have been in the situation where the patient has accessed information on their own and I helped them filter through details, however I had not considered encouraging patient’s to go on the internet to help
better inform themselves. I recently had this discussion with a preceptor of mine and she does encourage her patient’s to use the internet. She does specify to her patients to us either WebMD or E-medicine to help avoid them finding misleading information. I had never thought of encouraging my patients to access the internet, but I have seen the benefits on educating on valid web sites and empowering the patient to research their new diagnosis. This will
become part of my patient education.